80's Action Movie: Lethal Weapon (1987)

Prior to watching this, the only experience I had with any Lethal Weapon movie were the 'sequels' made in the TV show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. While these short sketches are absurd, they did prepare me for the actual movie, in a way. For me, on the surface, Lethal Weapon was shaping up to be a generic buddy cop movie, but it soon showed me that it was a lot more.

Straight away the premise of this movie drew me in. Both Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) and Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) are polar opposites when it comes to police work. But that's a given in buddy cop movies. No, it's the depth that's given to both characters. Murtaugh is an aging family man, ready to find a solution at the first inclination of an answer. Riggs is volatile and suicidal after the death of his wife and will take down crooks regardless of his own safety. It's amazing that this movie was allowed to show just how close Riggs is to suicide, showing him putting a gun in his mouth multiple times.

This is a great movie for Gibson to show off his talents (although I was unsure if he was doing an Aussie or American accent, he was just beginning his Hollywood breakthrough). I have also identified it as a turning point for his insanity in real life. Another person with whom this movie correlates with their real life insanity is Gary Busey, who plays psychopathic mercenary Mr. Joshua. It just goes to show that playing a psycho on film can sometimes bleed over to real life. Also another bit of trivia, this isn't the last time that Glover and Busey would appear in a movie together, they also play opposite each other in (my favourite Predator movie) Predator 2 in 1990.

The only problem that I have with this movie is the soundtrack. The jazz saxophone that is played throughout genuinely made me laugh. The mix of soft rock, jazz and orchestral score may have worked in 1987, but it doesn't really work today.

Verdict: A pretty deep action movie that has some decent acting, it's a shame about the soundtrack.

80's Action Movie: Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

'But Jack,' I hear you cry, 'Wikipedia tells me that this is a fantasy martial arts comedy film. I would hardly classify it as action.' And to you I say, it's my blog, I'll be the judge of that. Besides, there's guns and that's good enough for me. The reason I wanted to review this film is because it is the first film I remember watching. Well sort of. I have vague recollections of Kurt Russell and an overly stereotypical Asian man with long nails.

It turns out that I have a better memory than I thought because both of these things feature prominently. The only thing I didn't realise about this film is how funny it is and not in a 'because it's so bad' way. The comedy comes from Kurt Russell, who plays Jack Burton, an all American trucker who is doing a pretty good John Wayne impression. Burton stumbles around Chinatown misunderstanding Chinese customs and overestimating his own strength.

Burton comes up against Lo Pan (James Hong), an ancient Chinese sorcerer who has taken his friend Wang Chi's (Dennis Dun) fiance hostage. Well his more of a sidekick, very reminiscent of Shot Round in Temple of Doom. Aiding them in their adventure is Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall) and Egg Shen (Victor Wong), another sorcerer who moonlights as a tour bus driver around Chinatown.

The most egregious stereotypes come with the characters of Lo Pan and Egg Shen. Lo Pan is like a Chinese emperor of a forgotten age. James Hong (he was the maitre d at the Chinese restaurant in Seinfeld) is hilariously over the top. Egg Shen on the other hand is like Mr. Miyagi on cocaine. There are also some characters which ultimately became Raiden in Mortal Kombat.

Verdict: A super over the top martial arts movie that is really funny. I think the only thing that would make this movie offensive is if they added chop suey music.

80's Action Movie: Die Hard (1988)

I think the secret to good Bruce Willis acting must have been in his hair. Also the simplicity of having one man fighting off twelve terrorists rather than an army of goons like a video game is much more believable.

Apart from Pulp Fiction, this is the only role Willis has done that I like (admittedly I haven't seen that many). His portrayal of tough New York cop John McClane isn't as contrived as I thought it would be. His reactions to the situations he finds himself in seem genuine enough. The wisecracks he spouts are just about on par with the ones said by James Bond, so that also scores points in my book.

The other performance that has ensnared me is Alan Rickman (Professor Snape in the Harry Potter series) in his debut performance in a film as terrorist leader (or is he?) Hans Gruber. Rickman's performance is bafflingly good for someone in his first movie role. It feels like a performance from a veteran actor and yet he does a better job on his first go than many distinguished Hollywood actors have given in other films.

Another thing I love about this film is the overall vibe of the film. It hasn't dated like many other action films from the 80's, nor does it have that cheesy feeling that was so prevalent in any film from the decade. Instead it has a sort classy style, the fashion is not too horrendous and the decor is not too garish to distract this modern viewer from the story. (Although I did grow up thinking a stretch limousine like the one in the movie was the coolest thing possible. It has a TV in it!)

And I like this story. It's simple yet when you look at it closely there are some deep layers. A group of so-called terrorists break into a Los Angeles corporation building to steal $640 million in bearer bonds. (See, they were kind of bank robbers after all). But of all people to be trapped in the building with them is the aforementioned New York cop, who really doesn't take kindly to being taken hostage and begins his one man war on the bad guys (but this one man war is much more believable and realistic than in Commando, trust me).

See, this one man war does have guns and it does have explosions, but apart from one massive explosion, all the fighting is relatively small and contained (and I use relatively lightly, there's a lot of property damage done). The setting of an office building really helps this along.

Verdict: Actually a very decent action movie that isn't too over the top.

80s Action Movie: Commando (1985)

Out of all the movies on the list, this movie is probably the most bland. It is a very generic 80s movie on the whole and trivia surrounding the movie is more interesting than plot line...

...which is probably a good thing because a complex plot would probably get in the way of the 109 deaths in the movie. Now while that's not the biggest body count in a movie by far, but it's more that the large majority of these deaths come within the last 20 minutes and are caused by the main character.

Now why would someone want to kill 87 people in rapid succession? Easy. They had kidnapped his daughter. The man in question is John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger), an ex-commando living in retirement with his young daughter (Alyssa Milano). After his old squad kidnaps his daughter, Matrix is blackmailed into going to the Latin American country of Val Verde to kill a president he himself help to install in power.

(I should probably take this time to remind everyone to remember Val Verde, because it won't be the last time we see or hear of it).

But with such a rebellious spirit, Matrix won't be told what to do and instead goes on a murderous revenge rampage around the state he will later govern, killing everyone who gets in his way, as well as spouting many puns that we've come to expect in a Schwarzenegger movie ("Let of some steam, Bennett" when he impales his nemesis with a steam pipe is a classic).

One of the most interesting facts that I found out about this film is that an early draft was written by comic book writer Jeph Loeb. While not everyone will know that name, the nerds among us (and I am most definitely one) will recognise him for being one of the better Batman writers out there.

Verdict: Now while it may seem that talking about this film seemed like a futile gesture considering how bad it is, I wrote this more because this is a gateway movie for the rest of the films on the list. It's non-stop action gets you pumped up for the films that follow. Commando also has a very interesting connection to the next 80s film I will review, Die Hard. See the script for Die Hard was originally going to be a sequel for Commando, but Schwarzenegger refused to reprise his role from this film (I wonder why?)

May Is '80's Action Movie Month

Muscles, martial arts and montages! This month in addition to all the new release films that are coming out, I'm also going to be reviewing action movies made solely in the 1980's. The great thing about action movies of this time is that they sum up the socio-political feelings of the time, whether that be the Cold War fears of Red Dawn or the issue of POWs that is looked upon in Missing in Action.

While I can't review every single action movie that came out that decade (and there are a lot of them), I will be reviewing movies from a broad group of actors who were known for different types of action films (although, you could say that they are all similar).

If you wish to join in and watch the movies with me, here is a list of the films I will be watching and reviewing.

• Commando (1985)
• Bloodsport (1988)
• Lethal Weapon (1987)
• Big Trouble In Little China (1986)
• Road House (1989)
• Above The Law (1989)
• Missing In Action (1984)
• Red Dawn (1984)
• Die Hard (1988)

• Aliens (1986)
• Predator (1987)
• The Terminator (1984)

The first movie that I am going to be reviewing is Commando, but after that it will be a completely random choice.